Labor & Employment Law

Students will represent pro se clients pursuing employment discrimination claims at mediations taking place at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or mediations held by federal magistrates in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Under the supervision of an experienced attorney, students will work in pairs and interview and counsel a pro se client, prepare the case for mediation, and represent the client at the mediation conference. Representation is limited to the mediation. Class time will be devoted to discussion of assigned readings in employment law and mediation advocacy, pending cases, written mediation memoranda and skills development through simulations.

This course, which has won high praise from both students and clients, is open to students who have some prior experience with interest - based, problem solving skills, either through taking a mediation advocacy, mediation, client counseling or negotiation class, including the ADR class, or through participating on the client counseling, mediation or negotiation teams. Other similar experience will also be considered. LLM students are also eligible for this class. Eligibility for a Supreme Court Rule 711 student license (43 credit hours completed) is preferred but not required.

The course is designed to expose the student to the arc of an employment case – from demand letter through summary judgment ruling, from both the plaintiff and defense perspective. Students will have the opportunity to draft a variety of documents typical in an employment case, alternating between documents submitted by the plaintiff and those submitted by the defense.

In addition to providing students with experience drafting practical documents, the course will focus on the procedural mechanics and strategies of litigating an employment case, as well as on substantive employment law topics.

This course examines the various ways companies provide compensation and benefits to employees, including retirement plans, health and medical plans, executive compensation, stock options and other equity compensation arrangements. This course will analyze the tax, ERISA, corporate, labor, bankruptcy, and securities issues as they relate to both the employee and the employer, and will focus on the various issues an attorney should consider when designing compensation and benefit plans or advising a client in the context of employee benefits litigation or corporate acquisitions and divestitures. (Falk)

An in-depth study of the national policy opposing discrimination in employment and the ways in which this policy is addressed by federal and state law. While the focus is Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, numerous other sources of worker protection are examined, both substantively and procedurally.

The law governing the employment relationship is not limited to the union management confrontation of traditional labor law and the proscriptions of employment discrimination statutes. Both common law claims and other statutes have become major sources in challenging, e.g., drug testing, plant closings, lie detectors, whistleblowers, wrongful discharge. This course explores those legal problems. This is not a duplication of either Labor Law or Employment Discrimination; neither is a pre-requisite. The course focuses on the total configuration of statutes regulating employment as well as the emerging common law principles affecting employment relationships. (Connelly, Cooper, Luetkemeyer)

This will be a practical class designed to develop counseling skills in the representation of employees and employers, with an emphasis on assisting employers in complying with the major state and federal laws governing the workplace. The goal is to prepare you to provide clear and considered advice to clients in an effort to minimize the personal and business risks and costs associated with employment litigation. Topics covered include: (1) interviewing and counseling employment law clients; (2) recognizing the legal and practical aspects of employment issues to help clients make appropriate decisions; (3) identifying alternative solutions to workplace problems; (4) reviewing and drafting key employment documents, including handbooks, contracts, and personnel records; (5) handling discipline and termination cases; (6) managing the workplace crisis, including counseling employers on how to investigate and respond to whistle-blower complaints or complaints of harassment and discrimination; (7) training employees and managers on employment law compliance issues; and (8) strategies for dealing with common issues under state and federal worker protection laws such as the ADA, FMLA and FLSA. (Cripe)

This course serves as an introduction to labor and employment in the health care industry. Topics covered will include union representation, supervisory status, harassment and discrimination, independent contract relationships, employment at will, and wage and hour standards. (Schurgin)

This seminar will begin with a brief baseline description of some of the most significant features of United States labor and employment law. Comparative materials will then cover the basic employment laws of Canada and Mexico. We will then look at the regional regime established in the NAFTA labor side accords. Next we will move to Europe to study the employment laws of the United Kingdom, Germany and France, followed by the regional employment laws generated by the European Union. Following that, we will look at the employment laws of Japan, China and India. The final focus of the seminar will be on International labor law, particularly the International Labor Organization. (Zimmer)

This course, which meets once a week for two hours, will explore in depth labor and employment issues in the 21st century education workplace. Students will form teams -- representing individual employees, the union, and management- and advocate their respective positions in a variety of contexts, including collective bargaining, unfair labor practice proceedings, teacher discipline and dismissal proceedings, and contract grievance arbitration. Current events and contemporaneous developments will provide the backdrop for the course materials and class activities. Topics will include: tenure, reduction-in-force and seniority rights, and teacher accountability and evaluation of professional personnel under new education reform legislation; public sector bargaining trends in Illinois and nationally; the 2012 Chicago Public Schools teachers strike; LGBT issues, free speech, and workplace right of privacy.

This course examines the development of the law under the National Labor Relations Act. This statute and its decisional law are the primary means of governmental regulation of the union management relationship in the private sector. The organizational process and the collective bargaining process are the fundamental arenas in which to study the rights and duties of three separate entities: the individual, the union, and the employer.

Topics that may be covered include: (1) procedures and principles governing both the selection and decertification of unions; (2) the free speech, access and other rights of management and unions during an organizational campaign; (3) the duty to bargain in good faith; (4) the laws respecting strikes, lockouts, boycotts, and other concerted action by employees; (5) the duty of fair representation; (6) compulsory dues and other payment to unions; (7) the enforcement of collective bargaining agreements in grievance-arbitration and/or court action; and (8) the procedural and substantive law governing "unfair labor practices," by both employers and unions. (Cooper, Luetkemeyer)

This course concerns those areas of civil law which most affect low income persons: landlord/tenant, federal housing, welfare, social security, Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment compensation, and civil rights. Other systemic issues will be explored, such as wealth discrimination, use of legal remedies to promote social change, and the delivery of legal services to low income persons. (Ramirez, Rose)

This course focuses on the development of legal theory, precedent, and governmental regulation of sexual harassment in the workplace, educational institutions, and public accommodations. Students will learn about the continuing evolution of sexual harassment law regarding male-on-male harassment, unionized workplaces, intersectionality of race and gender, and vicarious liability. Skills used by attorneys who practice in this area will be discussed, including litigation, alternative dispute resolution, policy development, investigation, and training. Additionally, the class will take a critical look at conceptions and misconceptions regarding this legal issue in other arenas such as culture and politics.